The present invention relates generally to a method, system, and computer program for alerting an offline user using a downloaded digital file of a predicted computer file update of a master file, so that the user can go online and retrieve the updated master file. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method, system, and computer program for predicting the probability and timing of an update to a master digital file.
Digital files may contain metadata, which may convey certain details about the digital file. For example, digital file metadata can contain a history of when the digital file was created, the date the digital file was last modified, or when the date the digital file was downloaded. Further, digital files may be stored on a server where several users have access to the digital file. The digital file stored on server to which several users have access to may be referred to as a master digital file, as this file serves as the main digital file. Users may then download a copy of the master digital file for use offline. The offline copy of the master digital file can be modified and then uploaded to the server resulting in an updated master digital file.
In the above example, once a user has downloaded a copy of a master digital file, users have no guidelines as to whether their downloaded digital file copy is the most up-to-date version of that digital file or if the master digital file was updated by another user during the time the user was updating or editing the offline copy of the digital file. Typically, an offline user does not know whether their downloaded copy of the master digital file is the most current version of the master digital file and if any updates to the downloaded copy of the master digital file are still relevant or necessary. Therefore, an offline user has no way of knowing that he/she may be working on an outdated version of the master digital file. Also, a user may unknowingly update an outdated copy of a master digital file and then upload it, replacing a newer version of the master digital file with an updated older version. Thus, an offline user may cause confusion amongst a group of users sharing the master digital file by uploading outdated versions of the master digital file and potentially losing data added in newer versions. Further, a user who has downloaded a copy of the master digital file for use offline may use or rely on the information in a master file which is outdated.